Paper Topics | Fall 2014 | Paper 1
Due Saturday, September 13th, 5 p.m., in your conference leader's Eliot Hall mailbox.
Maximum length: 1,200 words
Openings of works often introduce us to key themes and teach us how to read the work that follows. Do a close reading of lines 1-50 of Gilgamesh. In that reading, choose one theme that you find to be central to the epic as a whole and analyze how the passage represents that theme.
This question asks you to start practicing the skills of "close reading." As you analyze the passage, pay close attention to the language, examining details such as imagery, diction (word choice), and the use of repetition, and think about how the patterns you notice contribute to the meaning of the text as a whole. Structure your paper around a strong central argument, and use explicit, textual evidence to support that argument.